Feature: The rebirth of Doncaster Boys

But thanks to a group of football enthusiasts, the town’s representative teams are back in action after almost two decades of inactivity.

Doncaster Schools Football Association was revived last year and now offers the best players not signed up to academies the chance to pull on the town’s orange jersey.

It was a re-birth which stemmed from a chance conversation between a former Doncaster Boys player and a man who knows junior football in the area inside out.

“I run a team at Scawthorpe Scorpions and I just got talking to Ernie Oliver, who worked as head of recruitment for Doncaster Rovers’ academy,” recalled Sean Perkins.

“Ernie’s in close contact with Steve Gates, who runs South Yorkshire Boys and Barnsley Boys and Girls.

“It was just a general conversation really. 

“Sheffield Boys were up and running, Barnsley Boys were up and running, and there are a number of other district teams not far away from Doncaster up and running. So I was wondering why Doncaster Boys wasn’t.

“Ernie came back to me and asked if I’d be interested in getting it back up and running again. I was well up for that.”

Perkins, a former semi-professional footballer who represented Doncaster Boys at each group, was appointed under-11s coach.

Paul Burke, the last person to represent England Schoolboys from the Doncaster district, took on the under-12s.

Darren Senior and Shaun Tetley coach the under-13s and under-14s respectively.

“We're not sure why it disbanded,” said Sean.

“We're based at Balby Carr Academy, where we play most of our matches, and all the affiliations go through there and a gentleman called Duncan Milligan.

“Duncan heads up the administrative side of Doncaster Schools so I asked him.

“He's asked a few people but he could never find out why it stopped in the first place. All he could find out was that about 18 years ago it stopped, for whatever reason.

“That's a long time ago and I was really shocked.

“When I was playing in the mid to late 90s it was running and everything was fine. They had everything in place and a committee.

“I've spoken to a lot of people since and they were all of the same opinion, shocked it had stopped.”

He continued: “It's all about getting boys from Doncaster playing district football again.

“We started from scratch. We had very little money in the pot which came from school affiliation fees into the central pot.

“We've had to get four teams up and running and we've had to get trials out there.

“I personally contacted every school I possibly could to notify them that Doncaster Schools football was coming back to the district and could they send their most talented boys for trials.

“I got one response from one school and that was it.

“So I went through the back door and contacted all grass roots coaches and see if they could send players.

“The take-up wasn't great but given it was short notice I expected it.

“It was a similar thing with the other age groups.

“I wanted this to be about grass roots and not kids who were already in the systems at academies, so I was adamant on selecting good quality grass roots kids.

“So we selected our squads and from there Duncan's got us into league and cup competitions.

“We've had to go out and get all sponsorship ourselves, for kits, training kit, etc.

“It's been a tough challenge up to now but I'm hoping, having gone through that initial 12-month process, things will get a bit easier going forward.”

Doncaster Boys are back in competitive action this season against the likes of Scarborough, Hull, East Riding, York, Leeds, Harrogate, Sheffield, Barnsley and Nottingham City.

“What you find in my age group is that they're adapting from seven-a-side football to nine-a-side football, which has proper football rules like offsides and things like that,” said Sean.

“That's been a bit of a challenge for them.

“We have found it difficult at times this year to win games but 90 per cent of our performances have been competitive.

“So we've not looked out of place, which has been very good.

“I've tried to put some wheels in motion for next season already,” he added.

“I've put some trial dates down for a lot earlier. We’ll try and get a bigger pool of players to come down and have some good sessions.

“We'll look to set some goals for next season and see if we can improve and take it to the next level - maybe look to form a committee.”

For more information email [email protected].

Twitter: @DoncasterSFC

Facebook: Doncaster Schools Football Assocation

U11s squad

Bryan Gryszkiewicz - Plover

Ben Jones - Tranmoor

Riley Trowbridge - Barnby Dun

Harrison Duncan - St Wilfred

James Benford - Morley Place

Oliver Bardell - Bawtry Mayflower

Josh Smith - Norton

Wilfey Woodham - Norton

Lewis Graham - Shaw Wood

Kenzie Fowler - Kirk Sandall

Finnlay Perkins - Sunnyfields

Dylan White - Estfield

Luke Schofield - Wadworth

Oliver Bowes - St Josephs

Joe Lynskey - Bentley High Street

Philip Sekowski - St Josephs

Rylie Murphy - Mallard

Diyar Mahmud - Kirk Sandall

Under 13s squad

Sahan Erdal - Hayfield Academy

Ben Haines - De Warenne

Issac Sprenger - Hill House School

Brandon Mee - Sir T Wharton

Ralphy Smethurst - Sir T Wharton

Ryan Tweedie - Hayfield Academy

Thomas Hicks - Outwood Adwick

Adam Driver - Sir T Wharton

Justin Bennett - McAuley

Thomas Burgon - McAuley

Bailey Buzzard - Hungerhill School

Aston Dunstan - Sir T Wharton

Rylee Grove Capt - Sir T Wharton

Travis Senior - Sir T Wharton

Krzysztof Yarosz - Hayfield

Tom Worley- Mexborough

Drew Fitzgerald - Sir T Wharton

Harry Daniels - Trinity Academy

Under 14s squad

Mathew Dale - Hayfield

Anton Rafferty - Hayfield

Harrison Boot - Hayfield

Edward Bond-Upton - Hayfield

Oscar Wales - Rossington Comp

Declan Chivers - Rossington Comp

Roman Antoniw - Macaulay

Alex Young - Macaulay

Rocco Calzini - Macaulay

Aidan Tomes - Macaulay

Reece Tye - Danum Outwood

Bobby Price - Outwood Adwick

William Collingwood - Norton

George Cooper-Smith - Sir T Wharton

Jacob Swales - Ridgewood

Kian Docherty - Hall Cross

Ashton Jacques - Ash Hill